Wang Fan, Li Ling, Zhu Xiaolong, Chen Feng, Han Xiaoxiao
National Engineering Research Center for High-Efficiency Grinding, College of Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China.
Bioengineering (Basel). 2023 Mar 24;10(4):402. doi: 10.3390/bioengineering10040402.
The low bioavailability of orally administered drugs as a result of the instability in the gastrointestinal tract environment creates significant challenges to developing site-targeted drug delivery systems. This study proposes a novel hydrogel drug carrier using pH-responsive materials assisted with semi-solid extrusion 3D printing technology, enabling site-targeted drug release and customisation of temporal release profiles. The effects of material parameters on the pH-responsive behaviours of printed tablets were analysed thoroughly by investigating the swelling properties under both artificial gastric and intestinal fluids. It has been shown that high swelling rates at either acidic or alkaline conditions can be achieved by adjusting the mass ratio between sodium alginate and carboxymethyl chitosan, enabling site-targeted release. The drug release experiments reveal that gastric drug release can be achieved with a mass ratio of 1:3, whilst a ratio of 3:1 allows for intestinal release. Furthermore, controlled release is realised by tuning the infill density of the printing process. The method proposed in this study can not only significantly improve the bioavailability of oral drugs, but also offer the potential that each component of a compound drug tablet can be released in a controlled manner at a target location.
由于胃肠道环境不稳定，口服药物的生物利用度较低，这给开发靶向给药系统带来了重大挑战。本研究提出了一种新型水凝胶药物载体，它采用pH响应材料并辅以半固体挤出3D打印技术，能够实现靶向药物释放并定制时间释放曲线。通过研究在人工胃液和肠液中的溶胀特性，深入分析了材料参数对打印片剂pH响应行为的影响。结果表明，通过调节海藻酸钠和羧甲基壳聚糖之间的质量比，可以在酸性或碱性条件下实现高溶胀率，从而实现靶向释放。药物释放实验表明，质量比为1:3时可实现胃内药物释放，而3:1的比例则允许在肠道释放。此外，通过调整打印过程的填充密度可实现控释。本研究提出的方法不仅可以显著提高口服药物的生物利用度，还具有复方药片片剂的每个成分都能在目标位置以可控方式释放的潜力。
